Chapter 4: Supporting the Whole Student
The impact of COVID-19, at Stanford and elsewhere, highlighted inequities among students in higher education. The digital divide, including lack of access to or understanding of technology resources, has made disparities more visible and contributed to socio-emotional distress among vulnerable student populations. A new focus on empathy, support, and student well-being lessened some aspects of these negative impacts.
Excerpt from Chapter 4
Pandemic impacts to student well-being
Emergency remote instruction caused disruption to academic continuity, but it also spurred creative innovations and practices that hold promise for positive change. While technology and mixed modalities led to an increased flexibility that benefited some students, many students’ well-being suffered during pandemic-caused remote teaching and learning. This decline in well-being was due to isolation, anxiety, and depression caused by the health threat of the pandemic and by difficult situations at home, among other factors.
George Triantis, senior associate vice provost for research and Charles J. Meyers Professor of Law and Business, recounted a time in fall of 2020 when the stressors overwhelmed some students in his class. “It was emotionally very, very hard for them. I’ll never forget the day the wildfires turned the sky orange. Several students were close to tears because of the accumulated stresses that they bore.”
"I’ll never forget the day the wildfires turned the sky orange. Several students were close to tears because of the accumulated stresses that they bore.”
George Triantis, senior associate vice provost for research and Charles J. Meyers Professor of Law and Business
Students were left to navigate these challenges without their familiar social and academic networks, which had been disrupted by the move to remote learning and living online. The weight of students’ concerns resulted in negative impacts to students’ learning and to their lives more generally. Students’ entire lives were brought with them to the virtual classroom in a way that was more difficult to set aside than in a face-to-face classroom. In fact, many literally brought their backgrounds to class with them, and inequality became more visible.
"Some of the students were obviously in very large homes, probably vacation homes, and some were in little rooms, or even a closet,” recalls Anna Levia, a reference and instruction librarian embedded in Stanford’s Program in Writing and Rhetoric (PWR), a course taken by about 95 percent of Stanford undergraduate students. “Some of them could find a private room to connect on Zoom. Others couldn’t, and would have people — usually roommates or family — passing behind them,” Triantis says.
Not only were students’ socioeconomic backgrounds centered in the learning environment in the form of their physical surroundings on Zoom, those Zoom backgrounds were students’ daily lived experiences — experiences that were uneven across the student population and that had an uneven impact on student learning. While unequal access to the necessary space and technology impacted students’ ability to learn successfully, it also led to faculty having increased awareness of and understanding of students’ diverse needs. “It’s one thing to hear that a student is struggling, but very different to be Zooming with that student and to see clearly the challenges in their living situation — it’s a big realization,” says Markus Covert, professor of bioengineering.
“It’s one thing to hear that a student is struggling, but very different to be Zooming with that student and to see clearly the challenges in their living situation — it’s a big realization.”
Markus Covert, professor of bioengineering
Because inequities were exacerbated and more visible, both in access to education and in the larger society all around us, student identity was brought into learning in new ways. The social issues that convulsed American society were also deeply felt by Stanford’s students. Those impacts were uneven, too, as many Black students wrestled with the traumatic effects of police violence on their communities and as Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students faced increased concerns about hate speech and violence impacting their communities.
In reflecting on her support of student research and writing in PWR, outreach and instruction librarian Phyllis Kayten noticed that during the pandemic, many more students wanted to explore racism, sexism, sexuality, and intersectionality as part of their course assignments. “George Floyd’s death happened right in the middle of this,” Kayten says. “Students’ research was focused on identity, on how what’s happening right now affects them as individuals.”
“Students’ research was focused on identity, on how what’s happening right now affects them as individuals.”
Phyllis Kayten, outreach and instruction librarian
Informal student communities and word-of- mouth communication channels were also disrupted. The guidance that junior and senior undergraduates once passed on to newer students — such as where to safely study late at night or what academic communities exist on campus — was not shared.
Student relationships with faculty changed, too, as opportunities for networking and cultivating relationships were lost. Without informal social interaction with instructors, such as walking to or from class together, grabbing lunch, or bumping into each other, students were missing out on connections they needed to make to advance their academic and professional careers. “The loss of connection, and the eroding of the ability to identify and build advisor relationships, has has resulted in some students finding it difficult to identify an advisor, and some undergraduates not having faculty to ask to write a letter of recommendation,” says Susan Weersing, associate dean for graduate and undergraduate studies in the School of Humanities and Sciences.
Some instructors and staff felt there was an erosion of trust between students and the institution, a widespread shift in our society many told us began before the pandemic. In academia, this shift has led to an increased hesitancy to broach potentially controversial or challenging subjects — of which there were many during the pandemic. Faculty-student relationships were also changed by the increased intrusion of technology into virtual classrooms where sensitive topics may be discussed. Screen recordings of Zoom class sessions were easy to make and distribute widely.
“Student well-being is what allows students to show up in classrooms, labs, and research settings ready to learn and engage.”
Susie Brubaker-Cole, vice provost for student affairs
These very serious challenges to student well-being required thoughtful solutions. “Student well-being is what allows students to show up in classrooms, labs, and research settings ready to learn and engage,” says Susie Brubaker-Cole, vice provost for student affairs. “And when students feel a sense of belonging, they are more effective learners.” Because of the importance of student well-being to its core educational mission, innovations in solving for pandemic-caused threats to student well-being proliferated at Stanford...
More voices from Chapter 4
“Interactions between students play a big role in learning, and it’s much harder to form study groups.”
Jim Plummer, John M. Fluke Professor of Electrical Engineering
“As a university, there’s so much centered around being here and physically engaging with the community.”
Edith Wu, associate dean and director of New Student Programs
“The sort of things that naturally happen over 10 weeks, like little discussions before class and after class when people are hanging around, or catching people you know out on campus — all of that has to be much more intentional in a virtual or distance learning environment.”
Michael Hines, assistant professor at the Graduate School of Education
“Distractions — things like pets, children, parents, or whatever — were brought up by the VPGE’s Faculty Advisory Committee as a positive thing that humanizes [instructors].”
Stacey Bent, vice provost for graduate education and postdoctoral affairs and Jagdeep and Roshni Singh Professor in the School of Engineering
“It was important, I think, for people to see that not everybody was okay on a given day, to acknowledge that, and to let people know that wherever they were was okay.”
Sara Singer, professor at the School of Medicine and Graduate School of Business
“In my mind, the absolutely biggest change is the way that instructors started paying closer attention to whether their courses are successful for students. That will lead to many permanent changes in all schools everywhere.”
John Mitchell, Mary and Gordon Crary Family Professor in the School of Engineering